Seven Will Out by JoAnn Spears

I seem to be going through a Tudor phase that is lasting several years and figured something "light and frothy" would be a nice change.  Whilst this is certainly that I'm not too sure how nice a change it was. 

Let me start by saying that one of the three stars given to this book is solely for the descriptions of the fashion of the time - from the wonderfully named Farthingale through to the undergown and exceedingly opulent overgown.  The clothing descriptions were sumptuous and never felt extraneous to the tale, they even managed to give a fairly realistic interpretation of the perils of dressing in Tudor times if you were of the nobility and had certain Courtly Standards to meet.

Unfortunately, this means that the story itself only gets two stars.  Here's why:

The modern day instance of our heroine (whose name I cannot remember but seeing as I finished the book 7 weeks ago it's to be expected) just had nothing going for her.  I really couldn't get my head around who she was supposed to be - yes, I get she was a History Professor but her polymath husband got in the way at every turn.  The ludicrous conceit of her doing the presentation in her academic gown with nothing underneath almost made me stop reading right then and there.  I was already becoming infuriated by every "close relative" being named after a Tudor and startlingly sharing their broadest personality traits as passed to us through historical documents (not entirely to be trusted but all we have).

Oh, was she called Kat?  I want to say she was called Kat - I could be wrong and I can't honestly be bothered checking the blurb to find out.

My second sticking point came with the Shakesperian stuff.

When the first revelation comes that some of Shakespeare's plays were written by this person of the Tudor Nobility I sort of went with it (I think the first one was Lady Jane Grey).  However, as the book progresses and more and more of the women take responsibility for writing some of the plays it began to really niggle with me.  Especially as in the timeline of the book some of these plays were gifted to Shakespeare to pass as his own after the death of Elizabeth I and yet they were reputedly played at court in front of her.  It also became extremely repetitive and boring with only the name of the play and the chosen quotes altering - virtually every interaction between our heroine and a new Tudor Noble Woman went the same way with "Oh, I wrote X of the Shakespeare Plays", "No, really.  Well I suppose that makes sense knowing what happened in your life" and then proceeding to use cherry picked quotes to prove the relevance of those plays to that persons life.

Honestly drove me round the twist and I was so glad when morning came and she had to return to real life - as unrealistic as her life actually is.

In fact, looking back on the 9th April when I completed this book I think 3 Stars is overly generous.  The distaste I can feel as I recall the events in the book makes me think 2 Stars would be much fairer - and that includes the 1 Star for the clothing!

Why Mummy Doesn't Give A ****! by Gill Sims

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this book as I have not read either of the previous 2 books in the trilogy.  to be honest, you definitely don't need to as this is truly a stand alone story that is really, a bit of a gem.  Of course you are thrown straight in to Ellen's world and just expected to know the major players in the tale.  However, the writing is such and the voice of the narrator so charming that you immediately "get it" and the tone genuinely feels like a good old chinwag with that friend you have known your whole life and you have a plethora of in jokes and key phrases that only mean something to the two of you.

I loved the whole moving in to her dream cottage and then finding out that the dream was damp and gloomy and not what it had looked like on the beautiful day she first saw it.  How relatable for anyone that has ever moved in to a new house; no matter how perfect it really is somehow your imagination makes it better whilst you wait for moving in day so it always feels a let down when you finally get there.  It seemed like the perfect metaphor for her separation and divorce and I am sure this was deliberate but it didn't mar my enjoyment.

The only glitch for me in the book was Ellen's seeming eagerness to get back out there and find someone.  Maybe if I'd read the first two books I would know what the gap is between the marriage breakdown and this move but it just seemed awfully fast and like she hadn't given herself time to fully lick her wounds.  Although, dating just to get away from two teenagers does seem like a plan.  Talking of which I really enjoyed the portrayal of her children in this book; they were living breathing anachronisms as all teenagers are and whilst you could feel the strong love between each family member you could also see all the tensions as they try and figure out who they are and what they want from their own lives.

To be honest a masterfully handled book that genuinely made me laugh.

Sofia Khan Is Not Obliged by Ayisha Malik

3.5 Stars

Sofia Khan is first and foremost a devout Muslim, well not quite so devout she wears a Niqab bur that step doesn't feel far away for her to be honest.  She faithfully follows the prayer schedule each day and avoids everything Haram - apart from the odd cigarette.  Sofia Khan is also British and is a fairly well adjusted mid 20-something with a career, friends and family.  Basically she is a 21st Century woman who just happens to be religious and have brown skin.

The book follows her from calling off her marriage, battling through her book PR job (that she has a love/hate relationship with) and just trying to cope with everything that life throws at her - including strangers calling her a terorist on the tube.  Whilst not laugh out loud funny, it is wryly humorous and gives a welcome account of modern life; whether or not you are a Muslim.  It was just unfortunate that the denoument of the novel was foreshadowed so heavily and came as no real surprise.  To be honest, I spent the last 20% of the book just wanting to get to the end as I knew exactly where it was going for Sofia and getting there was becoming boring.

Whilst the writing style is enjoyable with our eponymous narrator having an engaging voice and a wry sense of humour that translates well on the page.  My real issue with this book was repetition throughout - of dialogue, of situations - at first I did think it was to overstress a point for humorous purposes but if it is, it really misses the mark. The publisher's blurb promises you the "Muslim Bridget Jones" and this is definitely overselling the presented material, if not the premise.

I also had "issues" with Sofia refering to herself as an Hijabi and to devout Muslim men as "Beardies".  The reason that this became a problem for me was that if I were to use such terms I would be pilloried and after talking about the book with a mixture of my Muslim colleagues they also felt that the terms were insensitive and inappropriate and were surprised that the book was written by a Hijab wearing British Muslim woman.  Maybe it is a North/South divide thing but certainly the people I spoke to about found these terms offensive.

On the whole, it is a solid enough book that just doesn't quite deliver.